October 10: ‘Infuriating and bewildering’ | Azavea, Callowhill, HQ2 | Renaming 30th St Station

Diana Lu

October 10, 2017

30th Street Station is Amtrak's third busiest station — 30th Street Station is Amtrak’s third busiest station

Philadelphia developer Paul Janaitis has taken it upon himself to rebrand parts of South Kensington and Norris Square as ‘Stonewall Heights,’ much to the fury of Kensington residents. Victor Fiorillo reports that Janaitis put up signs promoting Front Street to 6th Street and Lehigh Avenue to Cecil B. Moore Avenue as a “modern historical district,” proudly declaring that “this side of Front Street is nicer [and] more family-oriented.” South Kensington Community Partners board member Jessica Noon says it is “infuriating and bewildering” for Janaitis to “give a fancy new name to these tight-knit communities.” Philadelinquency writes that Janaitis’ listing agent Christian Baker told residents that his client is “allowed to market his properties anyway he sees fit.”

Master mapper Robert Cheetham shares his thoughts on why Amazon HQ2 should be in Callowhill with Technical.ly Philly’s Roberto Torres. The Azavea CEO and Callowhill neighbor talks about the positives and negatives of Amazon coming to town, recognizing that infill development in Callowhill “would probably set off speculative buying and that could be very damaging,” but also that with the neighborhood’s proximity to Center City and public transit, “it’s going to develop anyway, Amazon or not.”

Amtrak has officially committed to renaming 30th Street Station after the late Congressman William H. Gray III, PhillyVoice reports. President Obama and Congress mandated the name change three years ago to honor Gray, who became the country’s highest-ranking African American elected official in 1989 when he was named majority whip.

Germantown United’s campaign for National Geographic’s Partners in Preservation: Main Streets grant gets some local media love from the Philadelphia Business Journal and Curbed Philly: Melissa Romero writes about the proposed facade and structural improvements to Parker Hall and the John Trower building, two sites of significance that highlight the historic contributions of the African-American community. Germantown is the only neighborhood in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania to make it to the finalist round.

The Philadelphia Citizen highlights the efforts and successes of Philabundance Community Kitchen, the food bank’s vocational culinary training program for adults from low-income backgrounds, reentering citizens, and folks who are currently incarcerated. The program, which has been running for 15 years, has graduated more than 750 students and celebrates an 80 percent overall job placement rate and an average starting wage of $10.85.

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